#resident-beekeeper

[lesdemonium]

Was nobody going to tell me that

1) there is a witcher musical

2) Geralt has green eyes this time

And 3) Jaskier is dressed like that

YEAH WHY IS EVERYONE SUDDENLY TALKING ABOUT THIS MUSICAL LIKE IT’S COMMON KNOWLEDGE?

i must hear geralt sing. but if i get nothing more than this image of jaskier, like, tbh i can die happy. this is the PROPER characterization

[officerjennie]

Hello can I please request hugging for a very long time as a platonic bonding prompt with any pair of witcher characters you fancy (characters from the witcher that is)

Hey so I’m feeling rather self-indulgent so I turned this into a trans!Eskel piece, with him coming out to his family and receiving nothing but love and support in return. Extended platonic hug bonding coming from Lambert.

CW: Trans!Eskel coming out to his family, brief descriptions of gender dysphoria over certain pronouns and other nouns (woman, female wolf, etc.), fears of not being accepted (but he ends up accepted anyway), Lambden mentioned (with potential relationship troubles). WC 3k+

--

Eskel had never been so nervous to see his youngest brother.

All things considered, everything had gone well so far. It had taken over a year to tell both Geralt and Vesemir - he hadn’t had the courage to tell the lot of them at the same time, the last winter coming and going without a whisper of who he really was, until he stayed behind and lingered in the keep even up until Lambert had taken his arse elsewhere.

In a lot of ways, Eskel had assumed Vesemir’s reaction would be the worst, simply because the wolf was old and Eskel had no way of knowing what the world had been like when he had been a pup. But his expression had been soft, his eyes alight with humor, and the only thing he’d said on the matter was “No female wolf after all, huh.”

Eskel had rolled his eyes, shoulders sagging with relief, leaving it at that. The lack of disappointment or flair had done well for him, and that had been one down.

Telling Geralt had...well, he hadn’t had time to really plan out when to tell him. One day he’d been on the path on his own, riding by a field of rather tempting goats and kids that just begged for their little heads to be scritched - and the next he found himself saddled up next to his brother, having ran into him near the coast and decided to hunt a rather nasty little group of cockatrices together.

It had slipped out by accident, a correction at the wrong noun used to describe him. Eskel had flushed and looked away quickly, knowing the question would come and not sure if he was ready to answer it. But he did, and though the silence was deafening the arms that soon wrapped around him showed him nothing but support and comfort.

Those two had been easy, even if his nerves had been fried. As he should have come to expect by now his family had shown him nothing but support, letting it be well known that it didn’t matter what name he went by or who he was - because he was theirs, their family, and now their brother.

Lambert, though...

The day had slipped past him, his hands shaking every time he thought of seeking him out. It had been an early homecoming for the both of them, and this winter Lambert had come back alone, leaving his ‘kitty cat’ somewhere out in a fishing village for some reason he vagued out instead of explaining. A spat, no doubt; it happened every few years for them, but there was no question in his mind that they’d be fine. Two hot tempers in the same room sometimes just exploded despite their best efforts, and a bit of space and time between them would sweeten their reunion.

But it meant that Eskel was left in the keep with Vesemir, who knew, and Lambert, who didn’t. And he saw the questioning look Vesemir had sent him when Lambert obviously didn’t know, making the usual jokes that made Eskel’s stomach clench, calling him the name that made him question everything that he was and at times almost sending him mentally downwards.

It wasn’t his fault. Lambert didn’t know. But it made Eskel both want to avoid him and also go punch something, and neither of those would be good for him in the long run.

So, here he was. For the nth time already this winter, though the snow had yet to even reach their ankles outside. Standing outside of Lambert’s room, listening as the telltale sound of a sharpening stone ran across the blade of a sword on the other side, as Lambert hummed to himself like he loved to pretend he never did - and while Eskel tried desperately to get his hands to stop shaking and his heart to quit beating so quick.

He had to tell him. Needed him to know. Lambert was in a lot of ways the most loyal of the lot of them. Sure his temper got him in trouble, and yes he loved to be a little shit and make sure they all knew he was one, but there wasn’t another person better to have your back in any situation. It didn’t matter if you were in the right or wrong to Lambert if you were his family because he would fight teeth and nails for you either way.

But his temper. His bloody temper, and his trust issues. A breeze sent the curtains in the hall sussing against each other as Eskel raked a desperate hand through his own hair, thinking once again about putting this off and waiting another day, or week, or fuck, until next winter.

They all had their flaws. For many reasons, Lambert has issues with trusting others and had an inferiority complex that kicked up at the worst of times. Really, Eskel had no doubt that Lambert would accept him in the end, that he’d see him for the brother he’d always been and perhaps even manage to not make jokes about it (he never meant to be cruel but Lambert sometimes didn’t know where the line for cruelty was, and his head was thick). 

What worried him was his initial reaction. How Lambert would feel knowing he was the last to learn, even though it had not really been intentional. How he might feel to have been kept out of the know for years even if he wasn’t the only who hadn’t known - and Eskel wasn’t sure how to even explain that he himself hadn’t known for decades, only knowing that certain words made his skin crawl, that being called a woman had always made him blank and feel...outside of himself. For so long he’d not had the words to describe it and for a long time after he’d been afraid to, even to himself, even within his own mind, and his throat had constricted around the confession every time he’d thought to bring it up.

The breeze was too cold, biting at his cheeks and nose. But it helped him breathe, that fresh air, helped ground him with the feel of ice cold in his lungs. He...wasn’t sure how to do this. After doing it twice already, he still wasn’t sure, wasn’t certain. Doubts still tried to eat at his mind and heart but he knew he deserved this - he deserved to be who he was around his family, around his brothers, and there was nothing wrong with wanting to share that with them.

It was terrifying nonetheless, and he’d faced down monsters over twice his size before. Alone.

Finally, he gathered up his courage and knocked on the damn door, rapping his knuckles twice out of habit. The humming stopped instantly but the rasp of rock against steel didn’t pause, Lambert’s grouchy tone snarking out “It’s about time, thought you stand out there all damn day.”

Despite how nervous he was, Eskel rolled his eyes, taking that as the invitation it was and entering his room. He shut the door up tight behind him to keep the chill out, the warmth from the fireplace slowly spreading over his chilled cheeks, pleasant enough an atmosphere for one of the most terrifying conversations he’d ever have to have.

“Finally gonna spit it out?”

Lambert was sitting on the edge of his bed, sharpening tools and a cleaning kit spread out haphazardly across the mussed up blanket around him. His armor was tossed on the floor about him, parts polished and parts still scuffed and dirty from the road, a few of his knives and his silver sword still in their sheathes at his feet, too.

It was a little irksome, how randomly he’d decided to go about his polishing and cleaning, but Eskel really couldn’t micromanage the cleaning and upkeep of his weapons. At least he was doing it; that’s all that mattered.

“Need any help with that?” Didn’t mean he couldn’t offer. 

Lambert didn’t bite, though, a scowl showing just how unimpressed he was with Eskel’s deflection - even if it was a genuine offer. “Getting tired of you lurking out there every other day, so out with it. What do you want?” His eyes turned sharp for a second, stone pausing in its glide across the blade. “And this had better not have anything to do with the fucking cat, it’s fine, I’m fine, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Not about the fucking cat.” Eskel held up his hands in a placating manner, watching the tension instantly melt from Lambert when he did. Getting him to talk about his own issues was worse than pulling vampire teeth and he was really not in the mood for that. Not in the slightest. “I’ve got...well, my own shit to talk about.”

That caught Lambert’s interest, his face flashing in a complicated mess of emotion before it settled on something guarded. But Eskel knew him well enough to catch the hint of disbelief in his voice as he said, “Surprised you’re not waiting for Geralt then.”

Eskel shifted his weight to his right leg, actively making sure he didn’t look away. “No, this is something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“The fuck d’you think I did?”

“Not-” He was going to make a right mess of his hair at this rate, running his hands through it so much. “Not about you, Lambert, with you. Tell you something. Just...talking. If that’s alright.”

Lambert gestured towards a spare seat near Eskel with his sword, casual, as if both of them weren’t nervous now. It wasn’t like they never talked - they talked plenty, but serious conversations happened rarely if ever unless something was wrong. The last time they talked anything like this had been when Kaer Morhen had been ransacked, which had been so many years ago Eskel struggled to remember the exact amount.

He took the offered chair, slouching in it with his arms crossed and making himself as cozy as he could be. The heat from the fireplace was a bit too much for him now that the bite of winter was entirely gone; he’d always been the wolf that preferred the cold the most, or at least the one that could handle heat the least. It was one of the reasons he’d stayed here for so long to help Vesemir make the most out of the rubble and ashes, grumbling as much as the next over the snow but at least able to function in it.

The sound had returned. Scraping of stone against steel, a steady rhythm, one that helped steady Eskel’s heartbeat. It was mesmerizing in that way anything familiar and repetitive was, something that helped ground him when his mind wanted to panic with all of the ‘what ifs’ it could imagine. He was grateful for the otherwise quiet Lambert’s patience allowed them, though he knew it wouldn’t last, closing his eyes and breathing while he calmed his thoughts.

It wouldn’t be that hard. Couldn’t take that long. All he had to do was say it and it would be over with. Questions might come, hurt feelings might follow, but it would be done and they could move on. And better to do it before Lambert’s thin patience ran out on him.

“Lambert.” His mouth was a bit dry, words not coming easy to him. Eyes open now as he watched his brother’s hand glide across the flat of the blade resting in his lap, concentration written in the furrow of his brow but the twitch of his mouth told him Lambert was listening.

All he had to do was say it. That’s all. The rest would come after.

Stone against steel, grounding him. He breathed in as it ran down the blade, out as it reached the end and lifted once more. 

“I’m not a woman, Lamb.”

His eyes flicked down to the armor and weapons that lay at his brothers feet, heart picking up as it no longer had a rhythm to try and match. The fire crackled to his left, popping and hissing, one of the pieces of wood getting ready to fall in on itself any minute.

“What are you, then?”

“A man.” He licked his lips, eyes blinking faster than normal, his heart not letting him look up to see what might be on his brother’s face. What emotions might be flashing there, what response he might have, delaying it as long as possible.

“Kitty cat had a sister, you know?” Eskel’s stomach clenched at the word, his arms squeezing tighter around himself. “Not by blood, but by school, or however you’d call it - he called her sister, s’my point. I met her once when the bastard dragged me all the way down south to the coast, worst fucking decision of my life. The journey, not meeting her.”

Lambert’s deep breath is what made Eskel finally look up, seeing his brother’s face flushed, his jaw clenching in that way it always did when he was forced to deal with sticky things like delicate conversations or emotions.

“Maybe it’s not my fucking place to say it, but he told me and she knows I know it. Doubt you’ll ever meet her anyway, but she’s- ya know, not- she wasn’t always a woman? Or, she was, but didn’t live like one, dressed and talked and walked like a man.”

Oh. Eskel swallowed, sitting up a little more in his seat, some of the tension easing from his shoulders.

“So, fuck, I get it. I mean, I don’t, I don’t get it, but I understand what you’re saying.” He huffed in frustration but Eskel knew him well enough to know what at; words had never been his strong suit. “Feel free to fucking deck me if I slip up. She certainly had no problem with that.”

“Knocked some sense into you?”

That earned him a grin, Lambert finally meeting his eyes again. “Bitch knew how to fight, too. Thought I might have been in love.”

“Surprised you didn’t stay then.”

“Turned out she’s gay, so.” Lambert shrugged, giving his sword a once over before reaching for the sheath that had been laying on the bed next to him. “Guess I’d be barking up the wrong tree on that one.”

“Have to stick with your own cat then.”

The humor flickered away for a moment, Lambert scowling as he placed his now sheathed sword down next to his armor. “Yeah, well. Yeah... Might have...fucked up a little bit on that one.” Before Eskel could say anything, Lambert’s head jerked to the side, his hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck. “Can we just- can we not talk about that? I’d rather stick to the ‘supportive, loving, dashing, best brother’ thing.”

“Right, yeah. That’s fine.”

There was a pause between them, a tinge of awkwardness in the air as they both fidgeted, not entirely sure where to go from there. The fire fizzled and popped, sending some embers out that landed on the stone floor, thankfully no where close to anything that could catch fire. It was all that spoke in the room besides the sounds of their heartbeats and breathing.

Lambert was the one who broke first, something making his leg bounce where his arm rested on it. “You didn’t think, ya know, that I wouldn’t- that I’d, I don’t fucking know, not? Support you, I mean.”

“I...” Eskel swallowed hard, thinking. “I didn’t think you wouldn’t, Lamb, but I wasn’t sure how the conversation would go. Didn’t know if you’d think I had been hiding it or not telling you on purpose.”

“Fuck, like I’d have any room to talk.” He scowled as he bit one corner of his thumb, chewing at a hangnail for a second. “When have I ever talked to any of you about feelings or whatever.”

It was true, but Eskel knew better than to take it at face value. Lambert was sensitive in a way he loved to hide and pretend he wasn’t, but they all knew him better than that. 

But there was no reason to think on all the ways the conversation could have gone poorly. It hadn’t, the air was clear between them, everything (or most everything) out in the open. But the hurt hadn’t left Lambert’s face since Aiden had been mentioned, by name or not, and that had Eskel’s chest hurting again.

What had his foolish Lamb done this time, he wondered. 

There was no way Lambert would accept any sort of comfort, but as Eskel shifted in his seat some more, not quite yet feeling the relief he’d hoped he would after their conversation was over, he had an idea as to how they might get some together.

“Feel free to say no,” he started slow, staring down at his own fingers and picking the dirt out from underneath them. “But I, well. This has been a lot for me. Talking about this. You might if we maybe...hug? For a while?”

It was probably pushing it, to take on ‘for a while’, but Eskel honestly found himself hoping Lambert said yes even for himself. 

The scoff was a bit expected, but the lack of a verbal ‘no’ was good. He looked up to find Lambert on the edge of an answer, confliction written all over his face, his hands clasped together and that one leg bouncing away as he started at nothing.

“Fine,” was the only answer he got, and Eskel took it quickly. And maybe it was pushing it a bit further when he wrapped Lambert up into his chest instead of the other way around but Lambert didn’t try to get away, tucking up under his chin and eventually relaxing into his brother’s arms the way he hadn’t since they were little and the nightmares had been too much.

He wasn’t sure how long Lambert would allow him this, would allow them both the comfort of each other, but he relaxed into it and decided to savor the physical touch as a reminder of their familial love for each other. However long Lambert would let him, he’d stay just like this, with the fire crackling on and the two brother’s embracing each other, the smell of home around them.

[gayregis]

What are your thoughts on the Gwent game giving Regis a different backstory? (If you haven't heard of this, looking at Germain of Fox Hollow on the wiki gives details)

I personally do not like it

the original intention of the backstory is to demonstrate how, when regis was the antithesis of humanity, it ruined him. he was dead way before the peasants beheaded him -- he had lost everything, all of his friends and himself, in a sense, as he was no longer a person anyone would want to be around. 

part of me theorizes that when his friends sent him to the village for blood, they were trying to get rid of him... maybe not send him to his death, but get his presence away from the crypt for a manner of time... his “friends” at this point were other vampires who took advantage of his miserable state, after all, and amused themselves at his expense. meaning likely that his rash and unhinged behavior was amusing to them. but even then, he was such a low person at this state that it might have been like being at a hangout with friends and there’s that one guy who will not stop complaining about his life... so you send him to get more drinks so you can get rid of him for a while.

i think it’s important to note that regis did not die when he was at his most powerful. he died alone, miserable, drunk, with his friends nowhere in sight to help him. it wasn’t a party anymore.* the party had ended years ago. he wasn’t ripping up a village with splendor or to impress anyone, he was doing it out of compulsion and addiction. all of the pain he inflicted on others was coming back to haunt him.

so when cdpr changes this to not be the case, with rather it being an ultimate showdown at an “ancient vampire ruin” (which shouldn’t exist due to the lore) with regis commandering his bruxa friends (although i admittedly do enjoy the “let’s go lesbians! let’s go!” energies of this) it turns what was regis’s lowest point in his life into an action-filled battle suitable for a movie scene... or a card game. like many of the decisions cdpr made, these were made for entertainment. but changing something to being exciting and a pleasurable experience to play often takes out a lot of meaning and character depth from the story. 

* note: regis’s backstory is intended to be tragic but handled in an entertaining and humorous manner, amounting to something like dark humor... it’s a well-known and understood tragic social phenomenon, but this happening all to a vampire in a medievalesque fantasy context makes it just a little bit strange. but the amounts of dark humor do not make the events and storyline less tragic.

so yeah... fox hollow, more like hollow of any character depth and meaning 😎

[in-love-with-writing002]

Eskel can be ok in cold for a while because he's beefy and surface area to volume ratio things. But also when he does get cold he takes ages to get warm again for the same reason so he has to be by a fire for a long time, and also have many many blankets. Cold things

Wow a hot take about the cold! Unexpected.

I think the potential for this is fantastic— People love to cuddle with Eskel when it’s cold because he’s always so warm and nice to hug and beefy and it’s great— and Eskel is like “no get off me I’m too HOT, plz”

but then the second Eskel actually feels cold he’s like “where are my cuddles and snuggles now??? I demand???” And then everyone is like “YOU’RE LITERALLY ICE WHAT THE HELL”

Instead of snuggling Eskel gets a bunch of blankets and surrounds himself until he’s absolutely buried in them, just completely engulfed, and then he shivers until he finally gets warm, but even then, he usually has to fall asleep to recover his warmth. And the cycle will begin again.

—

Thank you for the ask!!

[king-finnigan]

This isn't a bad take, but I just had a thought. I think witchers ought to have mules instead of horses. I'm almost certain miles would be better for what witchers use horses for than horses are. They tend to ha e better stamina and are also less picky about what they need to eat. Also then Kaer Morhen could be home to both horses and donkeys!! (Geralt should take a leaf out of Regis' book)

okay but consider: a witcher riding in on a mule is a lot less likely to be taken seriously than a witcher riding in on a horse.

[on-a-lucky-tide]

I'm listening to a podcast about the witcher, that's going through all of it (most recent episode is about chapter 1 of blood of elves) and they said something that made me think of you.

"A lot of the flaws of CDPR's read of this series can be summarized with it's literally just too fucking toxically masculine read of the witcher.

"Especially because so much of the series is about deconstructing toxic masculinity actually."

They are RIGHT and should say it.

(Podcast is Cast a Pod to Your Witcher and last week was an episode about the series as a whole with relation to infertility and reproduction which was very good)

Ahhh! ResiBee! I saw this post last night but I was drained. I hope you're well.

You're so right - they're so right! As much as I love the games and will continue to play them until the end of time, their tone is very different to the books. Their target audience wasn't men like Geralt, so the story and protagonist had to meet that.

I remember watching a "Making of" video for Witcher 1. The player character was never meant to be Geralt. It was going to be a "build your own", and they changed their minds. I bet that factored in too.

TLDR: let grown men show affection. Let open affection and love be a proud part of masculinity at all times.

[jaskierswolf]

Can I just say, I have absolutely loved reading all your ave fics. At times I got maybe a bit too emotional but goddamn I like reading happy ace things and people being in loving relationships of all sorts that don't include sex. (Also fun very ace moment of mine: it took me someone pointing it out to me to realise that "thigh high hemline" in marbles was a short skirt thing instead of a short ish mythical creature thing)

Thank you so so much!! <3 I’m really glad you liked it!! It tried to cover a bit of a spectrum of ace experience. I didn’t want it to be just sex repulsed ace because I know it’s more than that. I’m very sex neutral and so very demisexual but I love reading smutty fanfic of my favs. So I like to think I had more than just one version of ace experience. The feedback has been so rewarding for me as an author and I know @hailhailsatan feels the same. I don’t think either of us really realised how important it was going to be to so many people.

My friend something to me today that really resonated. She’s ace but she never looks for aspec characters as a main character. She was so used to being seen as a side character because what’s the point of a main character without a love interest and I just.... It really made me think. So I’ll continue writing ace characters and ace prompts so once I reopen my prompts then I welcome them.

I just need a chance to work on some other stuff before I reopen them! :)

Long story short.... THANK YOU! 💜🤍🖤

[witcher-and-his-bard-archive]

What are your thoughts on platonic bed sharing, occasional biting, and saying I love you? Oh, and kissing but only ever on the cheek/forehead

I’m not sure if you mean in real life or not, but this basically describes my best friend and I perfectly. So very good. I feel very good about all of these things, though for me personally, it depends on the relationship.